Designing roads with minimum ambiental impact using a geographic information system (G.I.S.)

Abstract

Designing a road requires different steps. During this phases location is obtained each time more accurately. These steps are very different, they go from global planification to detailed studies. During the process, a great amount of geographic information is handled to take the right decision between different alternatives. Using a Geographic Information System (G.I.S) during this processes results very useful. G.I.S handles a great amount of data and it makes easier handling this information with mathematical procedures. In this article it is shown methodology and results obtained in a particular project. This project was developed at the Departamento de Construcción y Vías rurales of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, and it was used the G.I.S called IDRISI. The object of this project was designing a road of minimum ambiental impact between Hoyo de Manzanares and Soto del Real, at Cuenca Alta del Manzanares, in the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid. It has been delimited a corridor where required conditions take place, but the final geometric design couldn’t be drawn because of working scale. This should be developed in a further work, where working scale would be more accurate.